Toll-free number capable of sending/receiving SMS messages, does not receive the incoming texts from specific numbers

Question

Toll-free number capable of sending/receiving SMS messages, does not receive the incoming texts from specific numbers

Mohammad Hosein Panahi 0

Hi,

I have acquired a toll free number which is capable of sending/receiving text messages but the performance in terms of receiving text messages has been inconsistent.

Whenever, I send a text from a wireless number, text goes through. But when a short code or a non-wireless number sends the message, nothing gets received as if the traffic is blocked somewhere.

I have submitted an application to register the number although registering the number only applies to sending text messages. My application is still open and the issue might get resolved.

Appreciate the help/insight here.

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Answer 1

Grmacjon-MSFT 19,491 Moderator

Hi @Mohammad Hosein Panahi ,

Thanks for the question. when did you submit an application to register the number? What region(s) are your messages being received? and is your phone number verified? are you getting any errors?

Effective October 1, 2022, unverified toll-free numbers sending messages to US phone numbers will be subjected to the following:

Stricter filtering - SMS messages are more likely to get blocked due to strict filtering, preventing messages to be delivered (that is, SMS messages with URLs might be blocked).
SMS volume thresholds: Effective April 1, 2023, the industry’s toll-free aggregator is implementing new limits to messaging traffic for restricted and pending toll-free numbers. Messaging that exceeds a limit returns Error Code 795/ 4795: tfn-not-verified.

Also keep in mind that Toll-free numbers are not capable of sending or receiving messages to/from countries/regions outside of US, CA, and PR. Please be aware of new limits that were added for SMS to US phone numbers. You can refer to this ACS SMS FAQ doc for more details.

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Hope that helps.

-Grace

Mohammad Hosein Panahi 0 Reputation points

2023-06-22T06:52:39.6066667+00:00

Hi @Grmacjon-MSFT
Mohammad Hosein Panahi 0 Reputation points

2023-06-22T06:58:27.9+00:00

Hi @Grmacjon-MSFT

Thanks a lot for the response.

I just submitted the registration yesterday. Status shows Submitted. Messages will be sent from somewhere in US and received in the US West region. I am not receiving any SMS messages so I am not sure if anything errors our in Azure. (Does communication services have a log where I can see incoming messages and their status?)

I just want to reiterate that this number will be used only for receiving SMS and not sending. I am not sure how registering the number will resolve my issue since I will not be sending any text.
Grmacjon-MSFT 19,491 Reputation points Moderator

2023-06-27T06:50:06.5366667+00:00

Hi @Mohammad Hosein Panahi , we noticed your recent experience on the Q&A community platform was rated low (indicating Answer provided was not helpful & was generic).

We appreciate you taking the time to provide us with feedback. We would like to learn how we could have improved your experience and made it more positive. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us, and we appreciate your input.

Thanks for providing additional context about your scenario. Yes, Azure Communication Services has logging capabilities that allows you to monitor and debug your Communication Services. Please follow the steps in this ACS tutorial to Enable logs via Diagnostic Settings in Azure Monitor. Under diagnostic setting name please select “SMS Operational” to enable the logs for SMS.

Also, If I understand correctly, you want to know why no messages gets received on your toll-free number when a message is sent from a short code or a non-wireless number? Where these numbers also acquired from ACS?

Normally the whole toll-free verification process takes about 5-6 weeks. So that could be a reason as to why you're seeing inconsistency with receiving SMS messages, but the logs (once enabled) can provide more accurate information as to what the issue might be.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have further questions.

-Grace
Mohammad Hosein Panahi 0 Reputation points

2023-06-27T14:20:08.1066667+00:00

@Grmacjon-MSFT

Thank you for getting back to me. I enabled logging but it was not helpful. No log is created when I trigger the message receiving process so I could not troubleshoot. The other number which is sending the SMS is from an external party so I do not know where it was purchased from.

I implemented the same process using Amazon Web Services and registration took around 15 days. Why is Azure taking this long to register the number? Is there any other thing I can do to possible resolve the issue and not wait for another 5 weeks?
Grmacjon-MSFT 19,491 Reputation points Moderator

2023-06-28T23:18:39.54+00:00

Hi @Mohammad Hosein Panahi ,

I understand your frustration. These timelines are subject to change depending on the volume of applications to the toll-free messaging aggregator and the quality of your application. The toll-free aggregator is currently facing a high volume of applications which is why applications are taking up to 8 weeks to get approved/verified . For more questions about your submitted application, please email acstns@microsoft.com.

I will also check internally with the ACS engineering team to see if anything can be done to quicken the verification process. We appreciate your patience.

-Grace
Mohammad Hosein Panahi 0 Reputation points

2023-06-29T23:24:06.69+00:00

@Grmacjon-MSFT Thank you. My initial question still remains unanswered. Based on Microsoft's documentation, the toll-free number registration is to ensure outgoing text messages from the toll-free number gets delivered and do not get blocked.

Incoming text messages from other numbers should work without any registration required. So, I still do not understand why I have to wait for 8 weeks to register the number for incoming text messages even though there is a not a guarantee that the registration resolves my issue.

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Toll-free number capable of sending/receiving SMS messages, does not receive the incoming texts from specific numbers

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